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NAME: Jer

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CHARACTER INFORMATION  

NAME: Konstantinos Galabas 

NICKNAME/ALIAS: Constantine 

AGE:  945 years old (appears to be in his 30's/40's) 

SPECIES: Vampire 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Constantine is very Greek in his looks with dark skin and eyes and black hair. Often  shaves his head, though occasionally he'll let it  grow out a bit. When he was still mortal he was  considered a giant among men, standing 6'6.  These  days, that draws far less attention though he's still  a big man even by today’s standards. He is powerfully  built and keeps the appearance of a body builder.  Constantine has several tribal tattoos and kanji for  power and wealth. He also carries numerous scars from  his time as a soldier.  

OCCUPATION: Owns a gym called "Sparta" that trains MMA fighters, also owns a private military corporation called "Spartan Military Solutions."

PERSONALITY:  Constantine is like a pit bull. He can  be a wonderful, charming, loyal friend and caretaker.  However, Constantine can also be a vicious animal  capable of unspeakable brutality. Though he is often  smiling and loves to laugh and joke, his eyes often  give away his darker nature. Despite all this, he has  a love of beautiful things, be it women, art, or  music. Throughout his life, Constantine has at times  collected all three. He currently dates a gorgeous  young human woman, and fills his home with Byzantine  relics and art. Music is more complicated when it  comes to his tastes since music can affect the mood  of the listener and Constantine can feed off violence  he often listens to the most aggressive music he can  find. However, the old man that lurks inside him  still has to relax to Bach.

He has recently in the last two hundred years or so, adopted an epicureanistic approach to life, attempting to control his desires and to seek some level of moderation in his life. He feels that the highest pleasure (tranquility and freedom from fear) can obtained by knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life and has been trying to reconcile these ideals with a life time of living as a warrior and his vampiric nature.

BACKGROUND: Constantine was born in 1066 AD, in the city of Mystras which was part of the Byzantine Empire. His parents were a blacksmith and midwife. Constantine's father served in the local Theme as a spear man and instilled a sense of patriotism in his son inspite of the Empire's waning strength. Constantine's father sacrificed a lot for Byzantium and was partially crippled in 1071 at the battle of Manzikert, fighting the Turks. This left a lot of the heavier work for young Constantine since his father was unable to bend or lift. After years of working for his father, Constantine became a full time soldier at the age of fifteen. A giant of a man even in his teens, Constantine quickly made  a name for himself as a skilled infantryman and a vicious fighter. He spent years fighting for the Komnenos Dynasty and was quite  loyal to Emperor Alexius the first.  

In 1097 Constantine marched with his brothers to Antioch under the command of Tatacius. When the Tatacius withdrew his forces, Constantine was one of the Byzantines who volunteered to stay and fight with the men of the first crusade. It was nearly a year of fighting and starving before the blue bloods that had been leading the crusaders brought an end to the battle with no small amount of political maneuvering. In the aftermath, starving and scared to death of catching typhus like so many others had, it was then that Constantine was made  a vampire. His master was an old Roman vampire named  Primo who appreciated Constantine's dedication and martial prowess. The  two became good friends bonding over their their mutual talents as warriors. Tired of Bohemund of Taranto's bad mouthing of Alexius, Constantine's emperor, the young vampire convinced his master to leave with him back to Constantinople.

Upon returning to the capital city, Constantine was allowed to join the Vardariotai around the time that they took over as the palace guard. He was  one of the few Vardariotai not from the Vardar Valley  but was eagerly accepted due to his martial prowess and imposing size. For quite some time he would serve as a palace guard was from time to time sent out on  special missions. In this time he gained a talent for fighting Turks, Kievan Rus’, and in 1204, even Christian crusaders.

For nearly five hundred years Constantine served the  empire, defending Byzantium but it seemed like the empire's borders continued over time to shrink and the morale of all of Byzantium started to shrivel. Primo did not stay for nearly that long though the two would stay in contact as much as they could during  that time. After Primo left, Constantine made his first vampire, a Byzantine noble that Constantine had befriended. For a while it was a healthy relationship but his friend started to become monstrous and predatory in a way that Constantine grew tired of. After nearly two hundred years Constantine felt the only responsible thing left to do was to kill his friend.

Meanwhile, more and more Byzantine territory was lost until eventually the great city of Constantinople  was virtually all that was left of Constantine’s  beloved Empire. It was a lot to deal with for the still young vampire, the loss of his friend, and his empire and all without the guidance of his maker. Then on May 29th, 1453 that  Constantine’s nearly five hundred year dedication to  Byzantium was given it’s first major test. That day, the Ottoman Turks sacked Constantinople and Constantine was forced to flee the city, heading back  to his home city of Mystras. 

The Despotate of Morea had changed a lot over the years but he settled in as a soldier none the less.  Having arrived after the peasent revolt of 1453,  there was little happiness to be found in the city.  While it was a fragment of Byzantium, Mystras found  itself with mounting problems and soon had to turn to  the Ottoman’s for help. This was the final, killing  blow to Constantine’s love affair with Byzantium. He  left the Despotate, not wanting to be there when the  Turks arrived, fearing they might kill him if they  knew he had been at Constantinople. 

Though Constantine managed to escape the Turks by  traveling into the Republic of Venice, it was a mixed  blessing. He had seen the slow destruction of  everything he had ever cared about and had been forced to kill the first vampire he made. He watched as the  empire was squandered and lost to the Turks. It broke Constantine, leaving him with a sense of loss and  powerlessness. Constantine vowed that he would never be crushed like that again and that he would never make a vampire from anyone other than fellow warriors. He set out to travel  Europe hoping to find a new home far away from the Ottoman Turks.  

Just a couple of years later Constantine would find  himself in England serving as a bit of a mercenary  for the house of Lancaster in England. In fighting  between the English nobles lead to Constantine’s  participation in The First Battle of St. Albans. With  so many Lancastrians dead at the end of the battle,  Constantine decided to stick things out, a sucker for  the underdog. This would lead to nearly thirty years  of on again off again fighting that would see the  rise of the Tudor dynasty. His participation in this  period of history is something that Constantine is  quite proud of to this day. 

Later, word would travel through Europe about the Ottoman Turks series of defeats and their inability  to push into Europe. This pleased Constantine to no end and to this day he is out spoken about his  appreciation of the efforts of Vlad III, better known today as Dracula, despite the controversy surrounding  Vlad. The Eventual decline of the Ottoman Empire was  something that would hold Constantine’s attention for  ages. It wouldn’t be until the early 1920’s that  Constantine would get the satisfaction of seeing the  empire vanish entirely.  

After leaving England, Constantine moved around  Europe quite a bit, finding wars that needed fighting  and nations willing to put up with his unique  fighting schedules. Spending time in Prussia, Venice,  Italy, France, and eventually finding himself in the  United States of America shortly after the young  nation had won what some were calling the “second war  of independence”. The 1800’s would really see the end  of Constantine’s soldiering as Armies became more  organized than ever before which made it difficult to  vanish during the day and reappear to fight at night.  Finding a home in New York City, Constantine would act  as the guardian angel of the Greek communities there  dishing out harsh punishment to any who would dare  abuse his fellow countrymen. 

In the 1950’s Constantine would move to Florida to  enjoy the lingering warmth in the night air there as  well as to avoid trouble with the law back in New York  City as a result of his protection rackets in the  Greek communities. Starting in Tarpon Springs,  Florida, Constantine would eventually move to Miami as  the city became more fashionable in the 1970’s and  80’s. Here he has surrounded himself with his fellow  Greeks and set up shop in a gym called Sparta. Once  again he has started up protection rackets for the  Greeks, keeping the gangs at bay and making sure  other threats are aware they aren’t welcome in those  neighborhoods. 

STRENGTHS: A born leader and a ruthless warrior. Can be quite chivalrous even after all this time.  Constantine’s powers are very similar to Primo’s. He is exceptionally strong even by vampire standards able  to pull off feats of strength that have made him rather infamous. He is also exceptionally tough, even  by vampire standards, able to take punishment that would break most other vampires and keep going.  Lastly, he has the rather strange ability to feed off  violence, like Primo. This ability seems to be very  similar to the Ardeur. 

WEAKNESSES: His biggest weakness is his love for the mortal girl, Delaney Spencer. He pampers her, and showers her with gifts, but also watches her to make sure she is as safe as he can keep her. His attempts to live a mainstream lifestyle has made it difficult for him to feed his need for violence though he is trying to find ways around even that.

ITEMS ALWAYS FOUND ON THIS CHARACTER: Unlike so many other vampires his age, the age of  telecommunications has seduced Constantine and as a result he rarely goes anywhere without his cellphone. A bit of a gadget nut in this way, he always has the best phone and is constantly upgrading. With some help from Delaney, he's even learned to use some apps and set custom ring tones. 

SPECIALIZED COMBAT/DEFENSE SKILLS, if any: Is skilled in hand to hand combat to a dregree that few have ever seen. Over eight hundred years of his life has been spent fighting in one war after another. Despite his amazing skill with blades, axes, pole arms, and even firearms, Constantine prefers to use his fangs or bare hands and feet to kill.

OTHER SPECIAL POSSESSIONS: Still owns his first sword. Other relics from the past are few as Constantine traveled light until moving to America. 

QUIRKS, INTERESTS, HOBBIES: Prefers to surround himself with fellow warriors and insists that anyone who works for him is deadly proficient in Pankration and lifts regularly, most are mercenaries at his PMC or fighters that train at his gym. Since settling down, Constantine has also taken an interest in collecting relics from the past. His private collection of Byzantine artifacts rivals that of some museums. 

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